


Dreams Of Futures Past

by Cecil_G_P



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Skelebros being bros, Suicidal Ideation, Timeline Shenanigans, hypothermia scare, it'll all turn out ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-07 15:11:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8805733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cecil_G_P/pseuds/Cecil_G_P
Summary: Frisk can't control the resets. They never could and never knew what mysterious force or entity was responsible for them. But they knew one thing. When you're stuck in a time loop and all your choices lead back to the begging it can be hard to muster the will to go on.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I see a lot of fics where Frisk has control of the resets and loads and that's all well and good but I thought it would be interesting to take the player character into account as the one truly responsible for the resets as well as some of the psychological repercussions that would have. Or to put it more plainly I wanted a fic where all the bad things aren't Frisk's fault and they can hug it out with Sans like the protective big brother he is. Also I should note that it's been literal years since Iv'e tried writing fiction so... sorry about that, constructive criticism is appreciated.

This is all just a bad dream… ANd yOUre NevER WaKInG uP

  
       Fall onto flowers, fight Toriel, fight Papyrus, fight Undyne, fight Mettaton, fight Asgore, fight Asriel, break the barrier, rinse and repeat. This had been Frisk’s life for god knows how long. No matter what they did they always ended up back here. Whether they crossed the barrier on their own or freed their friends or killed and killed and killed until they were coated with dust didn’t matter. The reset was inevitable. And Frisk was tired. So goddamned tired of it all. Of people trying to kill them. Of having the same conversations over and over. Of fighting the same battles. Of the resets they couldn’t control. After saving their friends for the tenth time already they broke down and slashed their way through the underground, taking their frustration out on their friends. It weighed on their soul to watch them die but it didn’t even see real anymore. After all it would eventually be reset and everything would be good as new.  
       Frisk faced Sans down in judgement hall. As much as the deaths hurt, they felt like they deserved it. But it wouldn’t stop them. They weren’t allowed to stop. They couldn’t save the monsters, not really. They couldn’t save Sans. So they could do the next best thing. Nobody would suffer if they were dust. And maybe… just maybe if Frisk could make the universe die the universe would finally let Frisk die with it. And then maybe there would be no more resets.  
It was a nice thought. But no.  
        “Just lay your weapon down and…. Well… my job will be a lot easier.” Frisk was almost shocked enough to drop their knife. Sans was…. Sparing them? After everything they’ve done? “Come on… buddy… pal. I know there’s still a glimmer of a good person in you.” He opened his arms for a hug and Frisk flinched at the motion. All of a sudden Frisk was tired. Tired. Tired. Tired. Too tired to fight. Too tired to care. Too tired even to spare. They dropped to their knees, their knife slipping from their grasp. They got one good look at Sans’s smug face, his hand twitched and Frisk braced themselves for the bones.

  
Resetting  
.  
.  
.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Should I make my chapters longer? Im breaking them up where they seem natural rn but they seem pretty short? Idk man.

       Frisk woke up on a bed of golden flowers. It had happened again. The reset. Even with all that death, nothing had changed. Exhaustion outweighed all other emotions. Yet again they were laying on a bed of golden flowers. But this time they didn’t get up.  
       That's how Toriel found them. At first she gasped, thinking Frisk to be dead. But Frisk merely blinked their eyes in response. She carried them back home, fretting the whole while at injuries Frisk couldn’t care enough about to feel.

 ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

       This new child was strange, Toriel mused. Despite having never met them before she felt as if they were an old friend. But the more concerning thing was that the child seemed to be suffering from an injury or illness unseen. They were listless, and would often sleep the day through despite her efforts to wake them and give them something fun to do. When they were awake they would hardly move more than they had too. Speaking to them resulted in glazed over eyes staring straight through hers soul and the occasional single word answer. IT chilled her, the child was looking at her as if they had seen a ghost. They hardly ate, even the butterscotch cinnamon pie Toriel almost instinctively knew they loved. However Toriel could find no signs of injury or illness that could be causing the child's illness. They seemed so hopeless… Toriel feared it was an illness of the mind. But they were so young… She sighed and wondered silently to herself.... Why would a child ever climb a mountain?

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ 

       Frisk lay in bed. It was dark and they knew Toriel would be asleep. For the first time in weeks they willingly got out of bed. They were breaking her heart. They knew that. She saw how Toriel looked at them when she thought they weren’t looking. The concern was evident in her eyes. And the guilt was killing them. As long as Frisk stayed here she would try to cure an illness Frisk knew didn't even exist. So maybe that's why, despite all of Frisk’s exhaustion they got out of bed and tiptoed downstairs. The door was huge and purple, and should only be able to open through Toriel’s magic. But as Frisk ran their fingers along the crack in the door it opened anyways. They tiptoed through, shutting it silently behind them and walked through the second door to Snowdin beyond.

 

        It was dark in Snowdin as well. Funny. All these timelines and Frisk still didn’t understand what caused the artificial day/night cycle. Not that it mattered. Nothing did anymore. The cold bit into them a Frisk wandered off the main path. They tried to find a suitably hidden place within the trees, somewhere nobody would look for a long time. They lay down in the snow not even flinching at the cold and waited for sleep to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi I'm Liv and welcome to me self indulgently writing my favorite fanfic trope of all time: cuddling for warmth.

       Sans made his daily trek to the door, feeling as if he had done this a million times before. And he supposed that he had… he had been visiting this lady for about six months now after all. But this was different. This felt almost like deja vu. Normally he would have brushed it off but this was so nagging a feeling. Something was off. He knew it. The timeline report could almost prove it. He sighed and looked to the ceiling, examining the stones and half expecting to see the sun. But why should he? He had never been Aboveground in his life. Right? As absurd as it was he wasn’t so sure.

       He rapped his knuckles against the door. “Knock knock.”

       ...but nobody came.

       Sans frowned. She hadn’t missed a day in months. Was she…? No. He knocked again. “Is anybody there?”

        “That’s my line,” a raspy voice said. Sans’s brow knit together in concern.

        “Hey lady, are you feeling alright? You sound a little hoarse.” He got a small chuckle at that.

        “Not a horse per se.” He raised a brow bone at that. Why did he feel like he knew that. Before he could ask a weirdly specific question about whether the lady was a goat monster or not she spoke up again.

        “You have not by any chance seen a human have you?” Icy dread flooded through his bones. He couldn’t explain it… but the idea of a human scared him more than it should any boss monster as powerful as he.

       “Nah.” He paused, “are you expecting one?”

       “I- I don’t, it’s just-” she swallowed thickly, “if you do ever see a human, you will protect them will you not?” This was all so familiar. And it felt like such a bad idea. He tried to push the feeling away, told himself he was being irrational, but thinking back to that crazy fucked up timeline report… It made him think. “Will you?” Her voice sounded even more desperate now, on the verge of tears even. “Please?”

       This was a bad idea.

       There was a feeling deep in his bones telling Sans to say no, to walk away then and there, to blast any human he saw into deep oblivion. It was stupid. But against all better judgement Sans managed a quick “I promise.”

       The lady made another broken sound and Sans just about felt his soul shatter in his chest. “Thank you.”

       “Heh. No prob bob.” After all what were the chances another human would fall into the underground? ********************************************************************************************************

       For the first time in a long time Frisk felt almost at peace. Drifting on the edge of sleep they couldn’t even feel the cold anymore, they hardly even had to think. The snow was so so soft and so so comfortable here. The light of morning shone down from the ceiling gems. It was so nice not to do anything at all for once…

       They heard a sharp intake of breath as a shadow fell over them. But they didn’t even try to turn their head. Even on the verge of death… they’d know that skeleton anywhere.

********************************************************************************************************

      Sans started to make his way back to his station, staring at his feet as he walked. A second set of footsteps caused him to pause. He hadn’t noticed them on the way there but they looked slightly snowed over, as if they had been there for a while. His heart leapt in his chest as he tried to tell himself it was probably the footsteps of another sentry. But… they were so small and didn’t look like they belonged to anyone in the canine guard. Apprehensively he followed the trail into the wooded area.

       He would like to say we wasn’t expecting to find a human. But really the only thing unexpected about all of this was finding them half frozen. Quickly he dropped to his knees beside the tiny thing and pulled them into a sitting position.

       “Kid? Buddy? Kid? Wake up! K i d d o !” He shook them but their head just flopped around, the little human’s eyelids fluttered just a little. “Oh jeez.” Quickly he shoved them into his hoodie and zipped it up. He flinched at how cold they were. Skeletons may not be bothered by temperature but he could easily tell this kid was way past popsicle point. A million thoughts flew through his head, all factual information on hypothermia and its effects, none of them helped to calm his racing heart. He did the one thing he knew how. Taking a deep breath he bellowed as loud as was physically possible. “PAPYRUS!”

       He called for help

        … but nobody-

       “SANS!” All 6’4” of Papyrus barreled through through the trees. “WHAT IS WRONG ARE YOU HURT ARE YOU BEING ATTACKED ARE YOU-” he cut off at the sight of his brother, terror clear on his face, and his jacket was... lumpier than normal?

       “Paps…” Sans held out a hand. Papyrus hesitated for just a millisecond. He hated Sans shortcuts, but whatever was going on, it was clearly important. He seized his brothers outstretched hand and one vertigo filled moment later they were back home.

       “Sans? What is wrong? Why are you so lumpy?” He began only to be rendered speechless as Sans shifted slightly and a tiny face popped out of his hoodie.

       “I foundddd themm in the snow Paps! They're cold! Real cold! I'm afraid.. Immmm afraidddd-”

       Papyrus put a finger to his lips to shush him. “Sit with them on the couch, are you using your magic to create heat?” Sans nodded. “Yeah bro… but I don’t want to make it so warm that it shocks them you know? It’s just how do we get them warm without making this whole thing worse? They're just a kid paps… they’re in stripes and everything! What if they? W h a t i f t h e y-”

       Papyrus shushed him again. “DON’T TALK LIKE THAT SANS JUST FOCUS ON GRADUALLY WARMING THEM WITH YOUR MAGIC LIKE YOU SAID AND I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE RIGHT BACK.”

       As Papyrus dashed around the house Sans drew the kid’s face back inside his jacket trying to shield them as much as he could. Curling around them he tried to sort out his head. The sight of this human kid… it was dragging up all sorts of conflicting feelings. Like happiness and nostalgia and friendship and gratitude. But also terror and anger and sadness and deep deep hatred. He tried to shoo all those thoughts and possible implications away to focus on his feelings for the kid as they were now. And it all came up terror, but this time for the kid’s safety instead of his own. But why would he even fear for his own safety in the first place? Sure they were human but they were only a kid. What could they have even done? He would have to look at his machine for clues later.

       Hands tugged at the zipper of his hoodie making Sans start. “Bro! What? I’m trying to keep them warm here!” This earned him an insufferable look from Papyrus.

       “Brother you said you found them lying in the snow yes?” Sans nodded. “Then surely their clothes are wet hmm?” A look of stupid realization crossed Sans’s face. He unzipped his jacket and the kid came tumbling out only to be caught by The Great Papyrus, whom quickly started to wedge off their shoes, socks, and other clothes. He left the underclothes for modesty before stuffing one of Sans’s turtlenecks over their head which hung to their knees like a dress. Placing the kid back in Sans lap he unfolded a fluffy magic warmed blanket and wrapped the kid and his brother both in it. He ran back into the kitchen briefly and came back with a tea kettle and mugs which he placed on the end table. He knew an unconscious child couldn’t drink tea but poured a mug anyways and settled back down on the couch. Sans lifted a corner of the blanket and he climbed in, holding the mug close enough to the child that they could benefit from the heat it gave off.

      Sans leaned his forehead against his brother’s shoulders, sagging in relief. “You’re so good at this bro.”

      “Of course I am Sans! The Great Papyrus is good at everything he does! Including aiding frozen human children!”

      Sans gave a start “whatdya call them bro?”

      “A frozen human child? Please Sans, try to pay more attention!”

      “No I mean, how do you know they're human?”

      “Well they are, aren’t they?”

      “Yeah.” Sans paused at that “at least I think so. But how can you tell? You've never seen one before have you?”

      “Well. No. Not as such.” He hesitated. “But this human… It is so strange but I feel as if I’ve met them before.”

      Sans studied his brother for a bit. He didn’t know what he was looking for.

      “Yeah, it’s funny but… me too.”

      “Do you think they'll be ok Sans?”

      “I hope so bro. I really hope so.”

      After a little while the human started trembling violently. It freaked Paps out a little but Sans explained to him that it was a good thing, meant that the kid was feeling things again. The shaking even seemed to wake the kid. Their eyes fluttering open…

********************************************************************************************************

      Frisk woke up shaking. Initially they were confused. They were not dead. They didn’t seem even to be floating in the eternal black of time travel. Instead they were in a sea of warm soft green. The warmth however couldn’t seem to reach the chill that had buried itself deep inside their shivering limbs. But then an arm shifted into view and a skeletal hand was holding their face and memory came racing back… _Oh. Sans found me._  They realized in dull disappointment.

      Two hands gripped their shoulders and helped them sit up while another held their head and helped them drink from a hot mug. Frisk was resistant at first- it felt like their stomach was doing flip flops. But with Papyrus gentle coaxing and Sans’s occasional prodding they sipped cautiously at it. Heat and magic coursed through them from the monster drink and they could feel their HP slowly inching up. Halfway through the drink they were able to grip the mug with their own hands and held it close to their core, curling around it, trying to absorb as much heat as they could from the mug.

      Sans chuckled at that. “You’re supposed to drink it kid, not cuddle it.”

     “Yes human,” Papyrus chimed in, “if you want to snuggle I will happily assist you, but the tea is for drinking. You need to get your HP up!”

      The rapt kindness and attention made Frisk start to tear up. They tried to hide it by drinking the tea but couldn’t keep the tears from sliding down their face. After all that they had done… it wasn’t fair that the brothers were being so nice to them. Even if they didn’t remember.

     “Oh dear human. Whatever is the matter?” They felt a short pair of skeleton arms wrap around their waste while Papyrus gently cupped their face, wiping away tears with his thumbs. Instead of answering Frisk took another sip of tea. Thankfully the brothers didn’t press the issue.

      By the time the mug was empty the shivers had stopped and both brothers seemed to relax a little bit. Warm and relaxed again Frisk melted into their comfy skeleton pillow and fell back into sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Sans drew the kid closer as they fell asleep, keeping his arms wrapped around their midsection. Papyrus put the mug back on the table and wrapped both his brother and the child in a hug, one hand still rubbing at tear streaks on the child’s face. 

“How strange Sans. I wonder why they were crying.”

Despite all the conflicting feelings Sans heart went out to the kid and he squeezed them a little tighter. “I dunno.”

“And you said you found them lying in the snow? How did they get there? Do you think something happened to them? I didn’t see any injuries but maybe there are other ways to render a human unconscious.” 

Sans was silent for a minute, his eyelights were very small. “I- bro.” He hesitated again. “It looked like they, well, like they had wanted to be there.”

“But surely they knew they couldn’t just take a nap in the snow? The cold could've killed them!” 

“Paps I- I think that may have been their goal.”

Papyrus drew away in shock. “But they’re so young! You don’t think?” He cut himself off and stared at the tear tracks again. With a sigh he snuggled back into the hug. “We’ll have to keep constant watch of them. If they wake up, and no one’s around…”

Sans leaned more into his brother “good idea bro.”

“But we can’t keep them on the couch! Nyeh! That’s no place to sleep!” He tightened his grip on the smaller figures and stood up.

“Whoa!” Sans tightened his own hold on Frisk as Papyrus leapt up the stairs. Frisk? They hadn’t said their name yet, why would he think of that? It wasn’t what you traditionally consider a name either. But he was so sure. He sighed and thought yet again to the printout in his lab. Could these be memories from another timeline? Could memories even transcend timelines? Or was he just going crazy? He decided not to think about it as Papyrus tucked them into his racecar bed. The kid shivered again and Sans sent another jolt of magic through the blankets, heating them a little. Frisk however just snuggled closer to him. He sighed, what would make a child want to sleep in the snow?

It was several hours later and Frisk still hasn’t woken up. Sans was beginning to worry that he shouldn’t have let them fall asleep directly after the hypothermia scare. Could it have sent them into a coma? The unusually silent house did nothing to ease his fears. Papyrus had gone to his meeting with Undyne after hesitantly agreeing to lie and say there were no signs of humans today. He hated lying but agreed that the kiddo was in no state to be moved to the capital and that Undyne was too impatient. He still didn’t know how to tell Papyrus what really happened to humans at the capital. 

He couldn’t go down to check his machine either. He was too afraid to leave Frisk alone right now. If that really was their name. Despite all the ominous premonitions he was having he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a good kid. One he really didn’t want to lose. He shifted his attention back to the kid and noticed that they didn’t look quite as asleep as before. Their eyes were shut and their breathing was even but there was a tightness in their limbs that wasn’t there before. He poked their cheek. 

“Hey shortstack. I know you’re awake.” They resolutely smushed their face into the pillows. “Come on. I need to ask you a few questions. You're a person of into-rest.”

“Shut up,” they mumbled, but Sans could see a small smile on their face. 

“But seriously kiddo, how're you feeling? You gave me and Paps quite a scare.” They frowned softly and it occurred to Sans that it would alarm most people to wake up in a stranger’s bed, but the kid wasn’t afraid or confused at all. He wondered if they were still sort of out of it. “Come on kid, don’t be shy. Do ya need anything?” 

They shook their head at that. “I’m fine.”

“You sure? You’re not cold or hungry or anything like that?” 

“Said I’m fine.” He frowned at that. 

“Kid. Come on. I found you half frozen.” He started poking their cheek again.

“Sans, I’m  _ fine _ .” They sounded a little annoyed but Sans couldn’t focus on that.

“Funny… I never introduced myself.” This provoked the most reaction he had seen in the kid all day. Their eyes flew open and their whole body went stiff. 

“Isn’t that what the... um other one called you?”

“Hmmm,” he hummed doubtfully, “I didn’t think you were awake for all that.”

“For a little bit.” He mulled it over in his mind, sure they hadn’t been responsive but they had been awake for a few minutes, could they have been drifting in and out of consciousness that whole time? He decided to try something.

“Is that so Frisk?” At this their breathing completely stopped for a few seconds and they glanced over at him in complete terror. But before he could react Frisk rolled over so their back was facing him and curled into a tight ball.  “Hey! Wait! I’m sorry! I don’t really know how I know your name, that is if it really is your name. But I didn’t mean to freak you out. How about we forget about this whole thing for now?” He leaned over them and poked their cheek some more but the kid’s eyes were screwed shut.

 

********************************************************************************************************   
  


Frisk ignored Sans’s poking and tried to go back to sleep but the implications of this kept them up. Sans remembered their name. They knew he knew more than he was letting on, maybe even remembered bits and pieces of other timelines. But not their name. Never their name. What if he started remembering more? The awful things they’d done... What if he tried to kill them again. At this Frisk relaxed and gave a sigh. What would it even matter if he did? Time would just start over again. Nothing mattered. 

“K i d d o I m s o r r y.” Sans stopped poking their cheek, he sounded so sad. 

“It’s okay.” They squeaked out. There was a pause.

“You sure kid? I didn’t think I’d be forgiven so easily.” There was a pause. “Let’s start over. I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton.”

“Frisk.” They managed. But honestly they were already feeling exhausted by all of this. 

“...You never answered, how’re you feeling?”

They sighed again. “Tired.” They growled out.

“Really?” He seemed surprised, “but you’ve been sleeping for hours.” 

They didn’t answer. 

“Heh. I guess I’m not one to judge. Well, get your rest kid. And let me know if you need anything.” The blankets were suddenly warmer. Despite it all it was kind of nice.

They could never get fully back to sleep but Frisk drifted on the edges of it, content just to lay there as long as they were allowed.  

  An indeterminate amount of time later a door slammed open. It was easy to track Papyrus’s progress throughout the house as he ran up the stairs and threw his own bedroom door open. 

“Sans I did it! I lied to Undyne! How is the human!?”

“Well, they're awake bro.” They felt Sans shift beside them followed by a poke to their shoulder. “Hey why don’t you sit up kiddo, I gotta introduce you to my brother. 

They didn’t sit up, but rather rolled over to look at Papyrus and give him a faint smile. They could never say no to Papyrus.

His expression brightened instantly, “HELLO TINY HUMAN MY NAME IS PAPYRUS I'M SO GLAD I GOT THE CHANCE TO MEET YOU!”

“I’m Frisk.” They mumbled but the smile faded. They couldn’t for the life of them remember what made them want to hurt Papyrus in the last timeline. The guilt was crushing. 

“Frisk? What a love- Frisk are you feeling alright?” Papyrus cupped their face and gazed at them in concern. They nodded.

“Hmmm have you eaten since you woke up?” 

Frisk hesitated “not hungry.” They finally managed to mumble. 

“That can’t be right, you haven’t eaten anything except that tea today.” Sans nudged them with his foot. He was looking at them funny.

Papyrus gasped. “Brother! You mean to say you haven’t gotten them anything since they woke up?”

“They said they were tired bro. I thought I’d let them rest.”

“Hmp that’s no excuse. I’ll have to make friendship spaghetti! Human! Come with me!” The next thing they knew the small skeleton had scooped them up and was racing downstairs.

 

********************************************************************************************************

 

Sans stood in the kitchen doorway. Papyrus had plopped the kid down at the table and wrapped the blanket around them while he danced around the kitchen explaining his process to Frisk. The kiddo had their head turned to look at Paps but otherwise slumped over the table listlessly. There was something wrong with this kid. How had they known his name? And how had he known theirs?

Sans closed his eyes and decided to pop into his lab. A little vertigo later and he opened his eyes to look at the broken machine. He turned to the counter and picked up the timeline report. Unfortunately it couldn’t tell him anything about what happened in all those other timelines, but it could tell him where they stopped and started and moved forward and back. He tried yet again to think of some way of calculating which timeline they were on at current but couldn’t think of anything. He sighed. It seemed as if every variable had been accounted for and yet his calculations still never got anywhere. He picked up the picture next and stared at him and his brother and a half remembered face. If only Gaster was here…

It was hard to remember much about him when he wasn’t looking at the picture. But if he could remember the name of someone who didn’t exist, then maybe he could remember some other timeline where he knew Frisk. After all they still existed. That look they gave him when he said their name. The kid knew something. They had to remember much more than Sans seemed to be able to. And they looked positively haunted by it. What had they seen? He could almost catch the edges of a memory, something violent, and scary, and sad hovered at the back of his mind and he felt that fear again. That fear that Frisk… he couldn’t seem to finish that thought. He chased the feeling but focusing on it made it slip farther away into the white noise of his mind. 

He sighed and tried not to think about it so hard. The memory crept back into place. He looked at it out of the corner of his mind’s eye. And all he saw was dust dust dust dust dust. He shuddered. It was hard to think that that sad kid upstairs could be the cause of all that destruction. But… it was enough to make him want to teleport back upstairs and keep an eye on them. To keep an eye on Papyrus.

 

********************************************************************************************************

The little human had been tucked into the racecar bed and Sans had decided to nap in his own room for the night. But Papyrus was still up. He couldn’t even think of sleep after all that had happened today. He had found a human! Or rather Sans had found a human. But they had been in no shape for puzzles. Even after sufficiently warming them up the child was very tired and seemed a little out of it. They enjoyed his spaghetti, obviously, but they seemed so sad. He thought about what Sans had said earlier. Could someone so young truly be sad enough to try  _ that _ ?

He looked the human over. Even stranger, he could've sworn that he remembered them somehow. But how could you possibly remember someone you've never met? He gave a sigh. Maybe tomorrow he would get the human to try his puzzles to cheer them up. He lay down beside them on the racecar bed and tried to drift off to sleep.

********************************************************************************************************

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lowkey don't want to write about Papyrus's puzzles. Sorry Paps. Also I feel like Frisk should be too lethargic to do them? But Papyrus would insist I'm sure of it. And they would also make a good memory catalyst... Idk I'm just venting my dudes


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forevs to update mostly because writers block but also partly because I had a dream where I was a successful novelist and then one of yall told the media about my ao3 account and it ruined my career. So thanks.

Frisk wasn’t sure how he talked them into it but the next morning found them standing in front of Papyrus’s invisible electricity maze. They tugged the borrowed red sweatshirt down to cover their hands, which wasn’t difficult considering how long it was on them, and sighed. They didn’t really have the energy to go through this whole song and dance again but it was so hard to refuse Papyrus. And yet they had managed to refused his mercy in the last run. They winced as the guilt crashed over them.

“HUMAN!” Papyrus yelled across the maze. “IN ORDER TO STOP YOU MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! IDEALLY YOU WOULD HAVE HAD TO COMPLETE THEM BEFORE REACHING SNOWDIN YESTERDAY! BUT SINCE YOU WERE… INCAPACITATED, I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO DO THEM TODAY INSTEAD!” 

Frisk frowned, the thought of doing something was making their stomach churn. Or maybe it was just the cereal they had choked down at the brothers’ insistence. 

“I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS PUZZLE! QUITE SHOCKING! NYEH HEH HEH! FOR YOU SEE! THIS IS AN INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! GIVE IT A GO!”

Frisk pointed at the orb.

“WHAT? I’M NOT THE ONE DOING THE MAZE? WHY ARE YOU POINTING AT ME?”

Frisk smiled softly and held their hands in a circle shape. “Orb.”

“COULD YOU PLEASE SPEAK UP HUMAN FRISK I CANNOT HEAR YOU!”

They sighed softly, mustered their energy and yelled “Orb!” across the maze and held out their hands.

“YES WHAT ABOUT IT?”

“I think they're saying they should hold the orb if they're the one doing the puzzle bro.”

“OH YES OF COURSE! SORRY DEAR HUMAN!” Papyrus stomped through the maze to give Frisk the orb, leaving a trail of footprints like always. 

They smiled again at his antics and resigned themselves to doing puzzles all day. Sans’s fortunately stuck to the pattern and left a junior jumble in place of a puzzle. They were ready to collapse by the time they got to the puzzle in the shape of Papyrus’s face. They would have rested along the way but the brothers accompanied Frisk from puzzle to puzzle this time though they couldn't for the life of them figure out why. Maybe they were still worried that Frisk would get hypothermia? They never had been before but maybe they just never realized the risk in any previous runs. 

They solved the Papyrus shaped puzzle in one try and saw a strange look flash across Sans’ face. He shuffled over to Frisk.”

“It’s impossible for you to have seen this one before…” His eyelights searched Frisk’s face as if hoping he could find some physical evidence there. “But then again it’s also impossible for us to know each other’s names before ever being introduced.” Frisk shrunk back, as if hit. They were slipping up too many times this run. Sans would figure it out. He would know what they'd done. And the worst part is he couldn’t even kill them for it. His eyelights widened and he reached out to touch Frisk’s arm before thinking better of it and dropping it quickly. “Shit. I’m sorry kid. I don’t mean to freak you out. I just get the feeling that there’s something you're not telling me. But I’m not mad. I promise.”

Frisk swallowed past a lump in their throat and nodded before rushing after Papyrus into the tile puzzle room.

 

********************************************************************************************************

The human was such a skilled puzzle solver! It was quite amazing to watch! But even as the puzzles seemed to cheer them up they seemed to get tired very quickly and Papyrus wondered if all humans had this little stamina. He hoped the cold wasn’t affecting them again, he had loaned Frisk his hoodie and Sans had let them borrow some sweatpants in hopes to keep them warm and they didn’t seem to be shivering at least. But they still didn’t look very good and Papyrus started to try to rush the puzzles to get them home faster. 

They were near some snow poffs when the human’s legs gave out from under them. They collapsed in the snow and made no move to get up. The brothers were at their side in an instant. 

“Human! I must advise you from sleeping in the snow again! It is very dangerous for a non-skeleton such as yourself!” He picked them up and placed them in his lap where they stared up at him drowsily.

“Yeah kid, wouldn’t want you to turn into a Frisk-sicle.” Sans added in obvious concern.

“As much as I think my brother’s phrasing lacks tact I agree. What is wrong human? Are you cold? Are you hungry? Are you hurt? Did the complexity of my puzzles drain you?” They shook their head. “Oh? What is is then?”

They sighed, leaning against his chest, “tired” they mumbled. He exchanged a worried glance with Sans.

“Oh. I didn’t realize humans needed to sleep so much. We were almost done with the puzzles anyway. Let’s go home.” He cradled them in his arms and rushed back to Snowdin. 

 

********************************************************************************************************

 

Papyrus opened the door in a flourish, “WELCOME BACK, HUMAN, TO SENIC MY HOUSE! NYEH HEH HEH!” He set them down on the couch. “Now what would you like to do?”

Frisk just shrugged and lay down on the couch. 

“Hey kid,” Frisk jumped, they thought that Sans had been at least 5 minutes behind them, “guess what our house wore the last time we had a party?”

“Brother, nothing about that sentence made sense!”

“A-dress!”

“Oh. My. God.”

Frisk gave an undignified snort, making Sans laugh even harder. 

“Sans, this is almost as bad as knock knock jokes. Frisk don’t you agree?” 

Frisk shot up, they hadn’t had an opening like this in several timelines!

“I don’t know Papyrus! I think whoever invented knock knock jokes should get a  _ no-bell _ prize!”

Payrus’s screaming could hardly be heard over Sans’ laughter.

“Wow kid,” he giggled, wiping tears from his eyes, “that was amazing! Most I think I've ever heard you speak too!”

Papyrus swatted at him. “Sans! You’re being a bad influence on them!” But he was having a hard time concealing his own laughter. 

KA-POW! BOOM! POP! The house shook and Frisk found themselves pulled in a nest of skeleton arms. In addition to holding Frisk it looked as if the brothers were having a silent fight about which of them was shielding the other. Papyrus loomed over Sans as if to protect him from non-existent debri while Sans had one arm wrapped around Papyrus’ neck, palm side up, and a blue and golden eye ready to catch the ‘debri’ with magic. The house stopped shaking and for a moment nothing happened.

After a minute or so nothing continued to happen. The brothers slowly relaxed their defensive poses. 

“ _ What in the underground? _ Sans do you have any idea what that was about?” 

Sans just shrugged. “Hang tight you two, I’m gonna go check on something.” He was gone is a flash.

Frisk tried to stand on shaky legs, he must have gone to the lab. But before they could move another step there was a hand on their arm.

“Small Frisk! I must advise you to stay put! It might not be safe!” Papyrus hauled them back onto the couch with worry in his eyes. But, Frisk noticed, he seemed distracted. 

They put a hand on his shoulder and cocked their head to the side shooting him a questioning look, hoping their own worry shone through.

“Ah Frisk. I’m afraid I don’t understand…”

“Sans?” Their voice was small.

“Oh. Are you worried about him?” They nodded their head. “Well you shouldn’t be. Sans is a grown up monster. And he’s strong. And he’s very smart. And you shouldn’t worry about him because… because… well because that is my job and you can’t have it.” 

Frisk’s frown deepened. They stood up again and pulled on Papyrus’ hand. They jerked their head towards the door. “Check on him.” They muttered. 

This time Papyrus didn’t stop them, he picked up their hand with confliction in his eyes and said “alright but you must hold my hand to stay safe.”

They walked around to the back of the house towards the basement door which had smoke pouring out of it. Papyrus led the way down the stairs, gripping Frisk’s hand very tightly. 

 

********************************************************************************************************

 

Sans knew that trying to hook the timeline reader into the logic circuits of a  Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain which was also hooked up to an  atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer was probably a bad idea. But after waking up from one hell of a nightmare where Frisk had slaughtered everyone he knew and loved he decided that he had to know what happened in other timelines risk be damned. So when his hodgepodge of a timeline viewer blew up he wasn’t surprised- just disappointed.  

What did surprise him however was the timeline miasma the explosion seemed to have created. After popping into the basement and taking one whiff of the fumes the wrecked machine was giving off Sans found himself on his knees and trembling. His machine had worked in the sense that yes it was giving him some insight into the other timelines, but he couldn’t imagine a worse way to receive the information. 

Bits and pieces of memories flew past him and smashed together and fell apart and screamed and screamed and screamed at him. He didn’t have a cohesive narrative, but he didn't need too. That damn kid was doing nothing but toying with them. Ten times they had broken that barrier. Ten times they had seen that same sunrise. Ten times they pretended to be everyone's friend. And one time. The one time when they got bored. When they decided friendship wasn't interesting enough anymore. When they decided to fill the underground with dust. 

Sans took a deep breath. He didn't want to watch this anymore. He dragged himself to his feet and summoned a self sustained tornado out of the mysterious gas and placed it on top of the ruined machine. And just in time it seemed, as he heard a door open and two sets of footsteps descend down the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cure for writers block: blow something the fuck up.  
> Also things about this chapter that were not original:  
> *every pun I will ever write unless I specify otherwise because I am not a creative person  
> *the sciency explanation I gave for the timeline viewer is ripped pretty much directly from h2g2 and is how you build a probability drive. fun fact, brownian motion producer= a really hot cup of tea  
> *the whole "after a moment nothing continued to happen" is also from h2g2


End file.
